Adverse childhood experiences and low socioeconomic status with respect to allostatic load in adulthood: A systematic review

Błażej Misiak; Bartłomiej Stańczykiewicz; Andrzej Pawlak; Monika Szewczuk-Bogusławska; Jerzy Samochowiec; Agnieszka Samochowiec; Ernest Tyburski; Robert-Paul Juster

doi:10.1016/j.psyneuen.2021.105602

Adverse childhood experiences and low socioeconomic status with respect to allostatic load in adulthood: A systematic review

Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2022 Feb:136:105602. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2021.105602. Epub 2021 Nov 24.

Authors

Błażej Misiak¹, Bartłomiej Stańczykiewicz², Andrzej Pawlak², Monika Szewczuk-Bogusławska³, Jerzy Samochowiec⁴, Agnieszka Samochowiec⁵, Ernest Tyburski⁶, Robert-Paul Juster⁷

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry, Division of Consultation Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Wroclaw Medical University, Pasteura 10 Street, 50-367 Wroclaw, Poland. Electronic address: blazej.misiak@umed.wroc.pl.
² Department of Nervous System Diseases, Wroclaw Medical University, Bartla 5 Street, 51-618 Wroclaw, Poland.
³ Department and Clinic of Psychiatry, Wroclaw Medical University, Pasteura 10 Street, 50-367 Wroclaw, Poland.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry, Pomeranian Medical University, Broniewskiego 26 Street, 71-457 Szczecin, Poland.
⁵ Department of Clinical Psychology, Institute of Psychology, University of Szczecin, Krakowska 69 Street, 71-017 Szczecin, Poland.
⁶ Department of Psychiatry, Pomeranian Medical University, Broniewskiego 26 Street, 71-457 Szczecin, Poland; SWPS University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Institute of Psychology, Kutrzeby 10 Street, 61-719 Poznan, Poland.
⁷ Department of Psychiatry and Addiction, Faculty of Medicine, University of Montreal, 7331 Hochelaga, FS-145-12, Montreal, Canada.

PMID: 34861465
DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2021.105602

Abstract

Early-life psychosocial stress primes a number of health risk behaviors, and contributes to the development of various mental and somatic disorders in adulthood. It has been reported that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and low socioeconomic status (SES) might be associated with allostatic load (AL) in adulthood. In turn, elevated AL index has been found to predict a number of unfavorable health outcomes. Therefore, we aimed to perform a systematic review of studies investigating the association of ACEs and childhood SES with AL in adult populations. Independent online searches covered the publication period up to 20th Jun 2021. A total of 27 studies were included in qualitative synthesis. The majority of eligible studies showed that ACEs (14 out of 19 studies recording ACEs, 73.7%) and low childhood SES (11 out of 12 studies recording childhood SES, 91.7%) are associated with elevated AL in adults. However, several processes were found to mediate or moderate this association. These include educational attainments, social support, health behaviors, adult stress, post-traumatic stress disorder, coping strategies and aging. Moreover, a substantial methodological heterogeneity of approaches to calculating the AL index was observed. Apart from reports from overlapping samples, none of eligible studies used the same set of biomarkers. Findings from this systematic review imply that early-life psychosocial stress might have a lasting impact on biological dysregulations captured by the AL index. Future studies need to explore whether the association between early-life stress and the AL index accounts for the development of specific health outcomes.

Keywords: Allostasis; Childhood trauma; Physiological dysregulation; Poverty; Social position.

Publication types

Systematic Review

MeSH terms

Adaptation, Psychological
Adult
Adverse Childhood Experiences*
Allostasis*
Humans
Income
Social Class